Casting Questions

[OoohShiny!]

Hi

I would like to have a mold made of the charms pictured so I could have them cast (multiple times) in sterling silver. The charms pictured are copper plated in silver. Could anyone advise me of how I could go about this? (The only experience of casting I have is lost-wax casting and as this was through a course the tutor arranged the casting to be carried out all I had to do was carve the wax!)


Any advice is much appreciated.
Hope you can help! :)

Ruth

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[Goldsmith]

If you send your patterns to a caster, they will make mould rubbers of them so that they can mould any amount of waxes you require for lost wax casting.

There will be a one off charge for the rubber moulds, but from then on you own them. If you want multiples of these three sizes, I would consider joining them together so that you only need one rubber wax mould of the three which means less cost than three sets of rubbers and also each single casting charge would give you the three items, which you will need to cut apart after casting.

James

[OoohShiny!]

Hi James

Thanks for the quick reply, and advice about joining them together, that had never occurred to me but makes perfect sense! Do you have any recommendations as to any companies which could be used to create the moulds and carry out the casting?

Regards

Ruth

[Goldsmith]

I depends where you are based Ruth, if you are near London, try West One Castings, 24 Hatton Garden, London EC1N 8BQ.

Or try Niagara Falls Castings; http://www.nf-castings.co.uk/web2008/ ,as they do a great postal service and have served me well in the past.

James

[OoohShiny!]

I'm based in Glasgow so will look into Niagara Falls Castings, your help is much appreciated.

Ruth

[mizgeorge]

Just a word of caution though - are the originals your own design? If you've bought them in (and when you say plated copper, I just wondered if you might have done) you don't have copyright on the design and should not be duplicating them.

[Goldsmith]

Ruth, this was a job that Niagara Falls casting did for me, I sent them these stag half models that I made using copper and wax, they made moulds of each half and cast them in silver so that I could solder the halves together, then I added some antlers and texture the whole stag's fur. I was sent my original model back with the castings along with a mould number in case I wanted further castings from the same moulds, which they hold in my name amongst their stock.

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James

[Myosotis]

Just a word of caution though - are the originals your own design? If you've bought them in (and when you say plated copper, I just wondered if you might have done) you don't have copyright on the design and should not be duplicating them.

Seconded - if they are not your design you should not be having copies made

[Lucie]

Hi James,
I've been looking at your photographs of the stag (stunning by the way!) & was just wondering - why the copper on the cut line?
I make lots of non-jewellery related sculptures & i've never seen this done before.
Was there a reason to solder together afterwards rather than joining the waxes prior to casting?

[ps_bond]

Hollow form rather than solid, perhaps?

[Goldsmith]

Hi James,
I've been looking at your photographs of the stag (stunning by the way!) & was just wondering - why the copper on the cut line?
I make lots of non-jewellery related sculptures & i've never seen this done before.
Was there a reason to solder together afterwards rather than joining the waxes prior to casting?

Hi Lucie, as Peter says the stag was hollow, as for my method of shaping the wax, I find this method a great time saver, 10 hours to complete the casting pattern, and of course a hollow model uses less silver so less cost. I did also make some smaller casting patterns for this job and I soldered them together so that they only required 1 rubber wax mould. This was all part of an antique restoration job that I did, here are a few more photos.

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James

[Lucie]

Thanks guys. I've made quite a lot of larger bronze lifecasts, but I must admit, I tend to cast them solid as it's almost impossible to disguise a cut line / join line with skin texture.
I was thinking your method could have quite a few other applications. Is it documented anywhere, or is it your own technique?

[Goldsmith]

Thanks guys. I've made quite a lot of larger bronze lifecasts, but I must admit, I tend to cast them solid as it's almost impossible to disguise a cut line / join line with skin texture.
I was thinking your method could have quite a few other applications. Is it documented anywhere, or is it your own technique?

When I first attempted wax modelling as an apprentice, I was given advice by Fred Bush who was a fine a craftsman designer and model maker. He used to model decorative fittings for the silversmiths and they were modelled on copper shapes so that they fitted the articles that they were being added to. I still have my first wax model that I made using wax and tips given to me by Fred, I do not know of any documentation re using copper as a base for wax modelling.

This is my first wax model, a solid wax and wood model of a chess piece,that I never had cast. Although I did get a commendation that year, in the annual Goldsmith's Company Craft & Design Council competition, model makers section.

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James

[Lucie]

Thanks James. The chess piece is amazing. I guess I now have an excuse to get a few more books :)
Not nearly as refined I know, but here's one I made earlier.

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[Goldsmith]

Thanks James. The chess piece is amazing. I guess I now have an excuse to get a few more books :)
Not nearly as refined I know, but here's one I made earlier.

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That's very nice Lucie, I don't do much modelling, it's just that in the past few years my business has been mainly antique restorations, so I sometimes have to do some pattern making and casting if the customer doesn't want to pay me for handmade replacements.

I have a friend, Larry Heyda, in the USA who is a fine modeller, you might like to see some of his work; http://lawrenceheydastudios.com/portfolio.html

James

[Lucie]

These are amazing James - I'd probably have to get myself back to college though. :)

[caroleallen]

Those hands are really good Lucie.

[Lucie]

Thank you Carole - They're brass which is a bit different :)
Keep trying out new ways to make some money around my ever expanding brood of little ones ;)